Could I have another glass of that Hires’ Rootbeer?
© The Charles E. Hires Co. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons / Boston Public Library. 1894.
The 19th of August is the birthday of Charles E. Hires. Though he is often credited as being the inventor of Root Beer, Root Beer was actually a homemade beverage in America before Hires came along.
What Hires did do, though, was to be the first off the block to sell it commercially, first as an extract that you mixed up at home, and then in ready-to-drink bottles. And, he financed it all with mud.
CooksInfo.com has both his biography, and the history of Root Beer. Why not crack open a bottle or pour a can, and refresh both your memory and your taste buds at the same time?